What happens when you love your dogs and you love entertaining? Chances are, you’ve thought about having a dog birthday party, right? This year, Emmie turned 2 and now that she has her very own fenced in backyard, a party was a must! Inspired by Pinterest (the easiest place for inspirations!), Emmie’s “all things dog” theme was created! Since the idea was to keep the dogs outside, the party began at 9AM <— yes, a party starting at 9AM!
Dog Bone Shaped Cake:
Who knew a little geometry would come in handy while baking a cake!! One of my favorite types of cake (from a box) is funfetti. Hands down. Something about the vanilla cake and sprinkles combo makes a great taste and reminds me of when I was a kid. I didn’t go fancy on this one at all. Simple cake mix and frosting, follow the instructions and bake. Once the 1 rectangular cake pan and the 3 circle cake pans were done, the fun began to create this dog bone shaped cake. You will cut out 1/4 of each of the circles so you can use the 3 1/4 pieces to make the 4th part of the bone. 🙂 A birthday wasn’t complete without us singing, yes singing, to Emmie and then indulging in a cake (and mimosas!).
Best in Show Bubbly:
A make-your-own-mimosas bar. Need I say more?! I usually buy Andre Brut for my mimosa champagne but I recently learned about freixenet – a few dollars more, but so worth it. Maybe not for the masses when you can buy Andre, but definitely a must for a small gathering.
Pupcakes 
These peanut butter apple cupcakes were made specifically with dogs in mind. They were a huge it hit! You can find the recipe for pupcakes here. The frosting is made of greek yogurt and peanut butter and topped with homemade dog biscuits (recipe). These were a HUGE hit!
Doggie Bag: treats-to-go
Who doesn’t love going to a party and taking something home? Well when you go to my dog’s party, you will end up taking home a doggie bag of treats for your fur baby! These are the same treats that I topped the pupcakes with and the recipe is here. Made of oatmeal, carrots, and cheese, these things are healthy and the dogs ate them up!
Snacks
I made “fetch sticks” out of overnight French toast and strawberries on a kebab stick. Topped with maple syrup and powdered sugar, these were so yummy. I made pigs dogs-in-a-blanket from crescent rolls and mini sausage links. I had extra rolls so I filled these with nutella and they were actually pretty good! To make the snack spread somewhat healthy, a parfait bar was a must!
Emmie’s party was such a great success but the afternoon was even better! As soon as I was done cleaning everything up outside, the thunderstorms came down hard (talk about perfect timing!)! The dogs slept for hours and I even fit a little nap in the day. 🙂
Happy 2nd birthday, Emmie!
sweet + savory 